Recent News From Our Members / Nouvelles de nos membres

In 2010, long-time CSM member Cynthia Neville (History, Dalhousie University)"published a new book, Land, Law and People in Medieval Scotland (Edinburgh U P). She was Elected as a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland; and was"named George Munro
Professor of History and Political Economy at Dalhousie. The Society congratulates Dr. Neville.

Joanne Findon (English Literature, Trent University) has published a new book, Lady, Hero, Saint: The Digby Play’s Mary Magdalene.

“This study situates [Digby’s] Mary Magdalene within the landscape of literary intertexts and contemporary concerns that might have shaped his thinking. It examines the ways in which audience members might have responded to a liminal figure who, marked by ambivalence and paradox, occupies the space between earth and heaven, ordinary time and eternity, sensuality and sanctity” (PIMS).

Dr. Kathy Cawsey (English, Dalhousie University) announces that her book Twentieth-Century Chaucer Criticism: Reading Audiences has recently been published by Ashgate.

 “Focusing on six trend-setting Chaucerian scholars, Cawsey identifies the assumptions about Chaucer's audience underpinning each critic's work, arguing these ideas best explain the diversity of interpretation in Chaucer criticism. Further, Cawsey suggests few studies of Chaucer's own understanding of audience have been done, in part because Chaucer criticism has been conditioned by scholars' latent
suppositions about Chaucer's own audience” (Ashgate).

James Weldon and Robin Waugh (English, Wilfrid Laurier University) have recently edited The Hero Recovered: Essays in Honor of George Clark (Medieval Institute Publications.

"Like other studies of heroism, The Hero Recovered implicitly addresses recurring questions: What is a hero? What is the heroic life? What is the heroic ideal? What is the relationship between the hero and his ever-changing cultural milieu? What is the significance or value of the hero to communities, cultures, and traditions, past or present? The contributors to this collection engage with these issues through their cogent reassessments of specific literary works and their background traditions. The volume also incorporates an extraordinary variety of subjects and approaches, offers new directions and methodologies for continued research in heroic literature in general and "northern heroic literature" in particular, and identifies key issues and challenges for future scholars" (Medieval Institute Publications).